February 1
Events *1327 - Teenaged Edward III is crowned King of England, but the country is ruled by his mother Queen Isabella and her lover Roger Mortimer. *1411 - Peace of Toruń 1411 signed in Toruń, Poland *1662 - The Chinese general Koxinga seizes the island of Taiwan after a nine-month siege. *1713 - The Kalabalik or Tumult in Bendery results from the Ottoman sultan's order that his unwelcome guest, King Charles XII of Sweden, be seized. *1788 - Isaac Briggs and William Longstreet patent the steamboat. *1790 - In New York City the Supreme Court of the United States convenes for the first time. *1793 - French Revolutionary Wars: France declares war on the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. *1796 - The capital of Upper Canada is moved from Newark to York. *1814 - Mayon Volcano, in the Philippines, erupts, killing around 1,200 people; most devastating eruption of Mayon Volcano. *1856 - Auburn University is chartered as the East Alabama Male College. *1861 - American Civil War: Texas secedes from the United States. *1862 - Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is published for the first time in the Atlantic Monthly. *1880 - The first edition of theatrical newspaper The Stage is published. *1884 - Edition one of the Oxford English Dictionary is published. *1893 - Thomas A. Edison finishes construction of the first motion picture studio, the Black Maria (West Orange). *1896 - The opera La bohème premieres (Turin). *1897 - Shinhan Bank (former CHB), oldest bank in South Korea, opened in Seoul. *1908 - King Carlos I of Portugal and his son, Prince Luis Filipe are killed in Terreiro do Paco, Lisbon. *1913 - New York City's Grand Central Terminal opens as the world's largest train station. *1918 - Russia adopts the Gregorian Calendar. *1920 - The Royal Canadian Mounted Police begin operations. *1924 - United Kingdom recognizes USSR. *1929 - Frenchman Charles Rigoulet is the first weightlifter to lift over 400 pounds (181 kg) in the "clean and jerk" method. *1943 - World War II: Vidkun Quisling is appointed Premier of Norway by the Nazi occupiers. *1946 - Trygve Lie of Norway is picked to be the first United Nations Secretary General. *1957 - Felix Wankel's first working prototype DKM 54 of the Wankel engine was running at the NSU research and development department Versuchsabteilung TX in Germany *1958 - Merger of Egypt and Syria to form the United Arab Republic, which lasted until 1961. *1960 - Four black students stage a sit-in at a lunch counter in Greensboro. *1965 - Churchill River, Newfoundland - Hamilton River in Labrador renamed Churchill River in honour of Winston Churchill. *1968 - Vietnam War: Viet Cong officer Nguyen Van Lem is executed by Nguyen Ngoc Loan a South Vietnamese National Police Chief. The execution was videotaped and photographed by Eddie Adams and helped sway public opinion against the war. * 1968 - Official unification of the three military services of Canada, the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force, into the Canadian Forces. * 1968 - Merger of the historic New York Central Railroad and Pennsylvania Railroad to form ill-fated Penn Central Transportation. *1969 - Saturday mail delivery in Canada eliminated. *1972 - Kuala Lumpur became a city by a royal charter granted by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia. *1974 - Joelma Building fire - a fire in a 25-story office building kills 189 and injures 293 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. * 1974 - Kuala Lumpur declared a Federal Territory. *1978 - Director Roman Polanski skips bail and flees to France after pleading guilty to charges of engaging in sex with a 13-year-old girl. *1979 - Convicted bank robber Patty Hearst is released from prison after her sentence was commuted by President Jimmy Carter. * 1979 - Ayatollah Khomeini is welcomed back into Tehran, Iran after nearly 15 years of exile. *1981 - Trevor Chappell bowls his infamous "Underarm Ball" to Brian McKechnie to prevent New Zealand scoring a 6, and tying the ODI, on the last ball of the third match in the final of the Benson & Hedges World Series Cup. It directly led to the banning of underarm bowling by the International Cricket Council as not within the spirit of the game. *1982 - Senegal and Gambia form a loose confederation known as Senegambia. * 1982 - David Letterman begins an 11-year run as the host of the NBC program Late Night with David Letterman. *1989 - The Western Australian towns of Kalgoorlie and Boulder amalgamate to form the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder. *1992 - The Chief Judicial Magistrate of Bhopal court declares Warren Anderson, ex-CEO of Union Carbide, a fugitive under Indian law for failing to appear in the Bhopal Disaster case. *1994 - In Portland Tonya Harding's ex-husband Jeff Gillooly pleads guilty for his role in attacking figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. *1996 - The Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress. *2003 - [[Wikipedia:Space Shuttle Columbia disaster|Space Shuttle Columbia]] disintegrates during reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard. *2004 - 251 people are trampled to death and 244 injured in a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. *2005 - Nepal King Gyanendra exercises Coup d'état to capture the democracy becoming Chairman of the Councils of ministers. * 2005 - Canada introduces the Civil Marriage Act, making Canada the fourth country to sanction same-sex marriage. Births *1261 - Walter de Stapledon, English bishop (d. 1326) *1459 - Conrad Celtes, German scholar (d. 1508) *1462 - Johannes Trithemius, German cryptographer (d. 1516) *1552 - Edward Coke, English colonial entrepreneur (d. 1634) *1635 - Marquard Gude, German archaeologist (d. 1689) *1690 - Francesco Maria Veracini, Italian composer (d. 1768) *1761 - Christian Hendrik Persoon, South African mycologist (d. 1836) *1796 - Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich, Swiss poet (d. 1865) *1801 - Émile Littré, French lexicographer (d. 1881) *1820 - George Hendric Houghton, American Protestant Episcopal clergyman (d. 1897) *1844 - G. Stanley Hall, American psychologist (d. 1924) *1851 - Durham Stevens, American diplomat (d. 1908) *1859 - Victor Herbert, Irish composer (d. 1924) *1872 - Jerome F. Donovan, American politician (d. 1949) * 1872 - Andrew Kehoe, American mass murderer (d. 1927) *1873 - John Barry, Irish recipient of the Victoria Cross (d. 1901) *1874 - Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian writer (d. 1929) *1878 - Milan Hodža, Slovak politician (d. 1944) *1882 - Louis Stephen St. Laurent, 12th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1973) *1884 - Yevgeny Zamyatin, Russian writer (d. 1937) *1887 - Charles Nordhoff, English-born author (d. 1947) *1894 - John Ford, American director and producer (d. 1973) * 1894 - James P. Johnson, American composer (d. 1955) *1895 - Conn Smythe, Canadian builder of the National Hockey League (d. 1980) *1901 - Clark Gable, American actor (d. 1960) *1902 - Langston Hughes American writer (d. 1967) * 1902 - Therese Brandl, Nazi concentration camp guard (d. 1947) *1904 - S. J. Perelman, American humorist (d. 1979) *1905 - Emilio G. Segrè, Nobel Prize Laureate (d. 1989) *1906 - Hildegarde, American actress and singer (d. 2005) *1907 - Günter Eich, German lyricist (d. 1972) * 1907 - Camargo Guarnieri, Brazilian composer (d. 1993) *1908 - George Pál, Hungarian-born director and producer (d. 1980) *1909 - George Beverly Shea, Canadian singer *1915 - Stanley Matthews, English football player (d. 2000) *1918 - Muriel Spark, Scottish author (d. 2006) *1922 - Renata Tebaldi, Italian soprano (d. 2004) *1924 - H. Richard Hornberger, American writer (d. 1997) *1926 - Stuart Whitman, American actor *1930 - Shahabuddin Ahmed, President of Bangladesh * 1930 - Mario Beaulieu, Quebec politician (d. 1998) *1931 - Boris Yeltsin, 1st President of the Russian Federation (d. 2007) * 1931 - Iajuddin Ahmed, President of Bangladesh *1934 - Bob Shane, American folk singer (The Kingston Trio) *1936 - Azie Taylor Morton, 35th Treasurer of the United States (d. 2003) *1937 - Don Everly, American musician (Everly Brothers) * 1937 - Garrett Morris, American comedian * 1937 - Ray Sawyer, American singer (Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show) *1938 - Sherman Hemsley, American comedian and actor *1939 - Claude François, French singer (d. 1978) * 1939 - Paul Gillmor, American politician (d. 2007) *1940 - Bibi Besch, Austrian-American actress (d. 1996) * 1940 - Hervé Filion, Quebec harness racer *1941 - Karl Dall, German television host * 1941 - Jerry Spinelli, children's author *1942 - Terry Jones, Welsh actor and writer *1944 - Burkhard Ziese, German football manager *1945 - Serge Joyal, French Canadian politician *1947 - Jessica Savitch, American journalist (d. 1983) *1948 - Rick James, American musician and composer (d. 2004) * 1948 - Elisabeth Sladen, British actress *1950 - Mike Campbell, American guitarist and producer *1953 - Brendan Batson, English former footballer * 1953 - Duane Chapman, American TV personality *1954 - Chuck Dukowski, American musician (Black Flag) * 1954 - Bill Mumy, American actor and musician *1955 - Ernie Camacho, baseball player *1956 - Exene Cervenka, American musician * 1956 - Mike Kitchen, Canadian ice hockey player and coach *1958 - Jackie Shroff, Indian actor * 1958 - Luther Blissett, English footballer *1961 - Volker Fried, German field hockey player *1962 - José Luis Cuciuffo, Argentinian footballer (d. 2004) * 1962 - Tomoyasu Hotei, Japanese guitarist *1964 - Linus Roache, English actor *1965 - Sherilyn Fenn, American actress * 1965 - Brandon Lee, American actor (d. 1993) * 1965 - Princess Stéphanie of Monaco * 1965 - Noah Blake, American actor and reality series star *1966 - Michelle Akers, American soccer player * 1966 - Rob Lee, English footballer *1967 - Patle Shishupal Natthu, Indian politician *1968 - Lisa Marie Presley, American singer and actress * 1968 - Pauly Shore, American comedian * 1968 - Mark Recchi, Canadian ice hockey player * 1968 - Kent Mercker, American baseball player *1969 - Gabriel Batistuta, Argentine footballer * 1969 - Joshua Redman, American musician * 1969 - Brian Krause, American actor * 1969 - Patrick Wilson, American musician *1970 - Yasuyuki Kazama, Japanese racing driver *1971 - Michael C. Hall, American actor * 1971 - Jill Kelly, American porn actress * 1971 - Ron Welty, American musician * 1971 - Zlatko Zahovič, Slovenian footballer *1972 - Yoshi DeHerrera, American TV personality * 1972 - Kami, Full name Kamimura Ukyou, Drummer of the Japanese visual kei band Malice Mizer *1973 - Yuri Landman, Experimental musical instrument builder, musician and comic book artist *1973 - Makiko Ohmoto, Japanese voice actress *1974 - Roberto Heras, Spanish cyclist * 1974 - David Meca, Spanish long distance swimmer *1975 - Big Boi, American musician (Outkast) * 1975 - Katerina Thanou, Greek sprinter *1976 - Phil Ivey, American poker player *1977 - Kevin Kilbane, Irish footballer *1979 - Julie Augustyniak, American soccer player * 1979 - Juan Silveira dos Santos, Brazilian footballer *1979 - Valentin Elizalde, Mexican Singer (d.2006) *1980 - Héctor Luna, Dominican Republic baseball player * 1980 - Moisés Muñoz, Mexican footballer * 1980 - Otilino Tenorio, Ecuadorian footballer (d. 2005) *1981 - Luis Lamá, Angolan footballer * 1981 - Graeme Smith, South African cricketer * 1981 - Rob Austin, British racing driver *1982 - Shoaib Malik, Pakistani cricketer *1983 - Kevin Martin, American basketball player *1984 - Darren Fletcher, Scottish footballer * 1984 - Lee Thompson Young, American actor *1985 - Dean Shiels, Northern Irish footballer * 1985 - Rachael Scdoris, American dog musher * 1985 - Jodi Gordon, Australian actress and model *1986 - Lauren Conrad, American TV star Deaths *1248 - Henry II (b. 1207) *1328 - King Charles IV of France (b. 1294) *1542 - Girolamo Aleandro, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1480) *1563 - Menas, Emperor of Ethiopia (died of fever) *1590 - Lawrence Humphrey,English clergyman and educator *1691 - Pope Alexander VIII (b. 1610) *1718 - Charles Talbot, English politician (b. 1660) *1733 - King Augustus II of Poland (b. 1670) *1734 - John Floyer, English physician and writer (b. 1649) *1743 - Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian composer (b. 1657) *1761 - Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, French historian (b. 1682) *1768 - Sir Robert Rich, British cavalry officer (b. 1685) *1793 - William Wildman Shute Barrington, British statesman (b. 1717) *1832 - Archibald Murphey, North Carolina politician (b. 1777) *1851 - Mary Shelley, English author (b. 1797) *1893 - George Henry Sanderson, Mayor of San Francisco (b. 1824) *1897 - Constantin von Ettingshausen, Austrian geologist (b. 1826) *1903 - George Gabriel Stokes, Irish physicist (b. 1819) *1908 - King Carlos I of Portugal (b. 1863) *1928 - Hughie Jennings, American baseball player and manager (b. 1869) *1936 - Georgios Kondylis, general of the Greek army and Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1878) *1944 - Piet Mondriaan, Dutch painter (b. 1872) *1957 - Friedrich Paulus, German general (b. 1890) *1958 - Clinton Davisson, American physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1888) *1959 - Madame Sul-Te-Wan, American actress (b. 1873) *1963 - Fleetwood Lindley, the last living person to see Abraham Lincoln's face (b. 1888) *1966 - Hedda Hopper, American gossip columnist (b. 1885) * 1966 - Buster Keaton, American actor (b. 1895) *1970 - Alfréd Rényi, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1921) *1976 - Werner Heisenberg, German physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1901) * 1976 - George Whipple, American scientist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1878) *1980 - Gastone Nencini, Italian cyclist (b. 1930) *1981 - Donald Wills Douglas, American aircraft manufacturer (b. 1892) * 1981 - Geirr Tveitt, Norwegian composer (b. 1908) *1986 - Alva Myrdal, Swedish politician, diplomat, and writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1902) * 1986 - Gino Hernandez, American wrestler (b. 1957) *1988 - Heather O'Rourke, American actress (b. 1975) *1989 - Elaine de Kooning, American artist (b. 1918) *1991 - Carol Dempster, American actress (b. 1901) * 1991 - Phil Watson, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (b. 1914) *1997 - Herb Caen, American newspaper columnist (b. 1916) *1999 - Paul Mellon, American philanthropist (b. 1907) *2001 - André D'Allemagne, Quebec teacher, political observer and essayist (b. 1929) *2002 - Hildegard Knef, German actress, singer, and writer (b. 1925) *2003 - The crew of the STS-107 Mission (Space Shuttle Columbia disaster), astronauts: ** Michael P. Anderson (b. 1959) ** David Brown (b. 1956) ** Kalpana Chawla (b. 1961) ** Laurel Clark (b. 1961) ** Rick D. Husband (b. 1957) ** Willie McCool (b. 1961) ** Ilan Ramon (b. 1954) * 2003 - Mongo Santamaria, Cuban percussionist and band leader (b. 1922) *2005 - John Vernon, Canadian actor (b. 1932) *2006 - Dick Bass, American football player (b. 1937) * 2006 - Bryce Harland, New Zealand diplomat (b. 1931) *2007 - Gian Carlo Menotti, Italian-born composer (b. 1911) * 2007 - Seri Wangnaitham, Thai dance choreographer (b. 1937) * 2007 - Whitney Balliett, American jazz critic (b. 1926) * 2007 - Ray Berres, American baseball player (b. 1907) * 2007 - Ahmad Abu Laban, Danish Muslim leader (b. 1946) Holidays and observances *The start of Black History Month in the United States. *Imbolc - the first day of Spring in Ireland (Irish Calendar) and one of the four Gaelic seasonal (and sometimes religious) festivals. Also part of the Wiccan Wheel of the Year. *The start of LGBT History Month in the United Kingdom. Religious observances *Astina *St. Brigid, patron saint of Ireland. Feast day in the Roman Catholic Church. External links * BBC: On This Day * * On This Day in Canada ---- February 01